Join us on Wednesday, October 30 to celebrate and honor our community at our 2024 Gala! Check out the schedule for our online extravaganza and celebration of self-advocacy:

Panels

Sowing Safety: Cultivating Protections and Weeding Out Harmful Policies During the Ongoing Pandemic – 3:00 to 4:45 PM ET

As mask bans have continued popping up and pandemic protections are lifted, many disabled people are disproportionately impacted, facing heightened risks in a society increasingly eager to move on from the pandemic. We know that COVID-19 is still an issue. We'll be joined by experts discussing how to navigate the continual erosion of pandemic protections, the harm caused by mask bans, and what we can do to support and keep each other safer.

Digging Deeper: Autism and Mental Health – 5:15 to 7:00 PM ET

People with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) often have mental health disabilities too, but it's harder to get the right care. This is because mental health services and IDD services are kept separate, creating gaps in support. Most of the time, people with IDD can only get either mental health care or IDD supports—not both. “Behavior support services” tend to focus on controlling or changing behavior and don't meet people's needs. This can contribute to trauma and mental health burden for many people with IDD. In this panel, we will talk about how the current systems are failing people with both IDD and mental health disabilities, and what changes we want to see.

Award Ceremony

7:30 PM ET

At this year’s Awards Ceremony, we will be honoring several awardees for their tireless work in advocacy, community building, and so much more. We’ll also hear remarks from ASAN’s incoming Executive Director Colin Killick!

Raffle Drawing

Post Award Ceremony

We’ll be contacting the winners of our raffle following the award ceremony. We will be raffling off 2 free year-long ASAN memberships at the Trivia Teammates level. Make sure you’re registered for the gala in order to be entered into the raffle, and keep an eye out for an email from us!

See something you like? You can pick and choose which events to attend, or join us for the whole evening! Your ticket is good for all events. Secure your spot now by registering here. As the gala gets closer, we’ll send you links to join our panels and award ceremony.

Gala tickets are on a sliding scale this year, so you can pay whatever you are comfortable with. Proceeds from this event every year support our advocacy work and programs for the coming year, and allow us to continue working to empower disabled people across the country. If you are not able to donate, we’re just happy to have you celebrating with us! But if you are able, please consider donating to support our work.

Register now to reserve your spot, and RSVP on Facebook so you don’t miss a thing. We can’t wait to celebrate with you!

Autistic Self Advocacy Network

PO Box 66122
Washington, DC 20035

 

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